My walking Anniversary that is……..
Yup , The upcoming San Francisco Marathon marks my first complete year as a full- fledged hardcore fitness walking freak!
In all, I’ve been walking almost two years (it took me nearly a year to make it to the 10 mile mark) , but I don’t count any walking I did prior to finishing my first real race back on 7/31/2005.
It was at that time almost 12 months ago to the day, that I had just been discharged from the hospital and had less than three weeks to get re-prepared for my very first 1/2 marathon race.
Looking back, I’m still amazed that I was able to pull that off. It was a brutal race for me. I had never walked continuously for 3 and a quarter hours, ever, in my entire life.
It seemed to take forever…but I did it. And what an incredible feeling it was– knowing that you’ve accomplished something that seemed all but impossible.
It’s been a year saturated with all things related to walking. In the past 12 months, I’ve put in over 1100 training miles, , I’ve completed 3 half- marathons, I’ve improved my speed and endurance ( in fact, now I can out-walk most healthy people), I taught myself to racewalk ( with the help of Dave McGovern) , I met a bunch of wonderful walkers and runners from all over the country , I started this blog!! and finally…….I convinced myself to take it a step further (literally), by attempting to walk a full marathon this October.
It’s also been a record year for the number hospitalizations ( four in total) and for the number of yellow/red light days and for the number of times I’ve had to restart my training from scratch . All ‘n all though, ….I’d say its been a good year. Now, if I could just to write…………….
In just weeks I will be attempting my fourth 1/2 marathon at the SFM. And , if my lungs behave, I should finish near or below the three hour mark –making this my fourth PR in four races.
For some of my new friends, the San Francisco Marathon will be their very first race experience, just as it was mine . I wish them all the best and hope that they don’t get too addicted.
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Congratulations!!!! You are going to be great! I can’t wait to hear what your time is. Take care, Sandra